The invention relates to a connecting arrangement for connecting individual electrical conductors of a multiwire lead to circuit-extending electrical conductors, the said connecting arrangement consisting of an insulating casing which is formed from parts that can be connected to one another, a central aperture being provided and contact elements, which are disposed inside the casing and have insulation-cutting terminals, being provided for contact-making purposes.
A connecting arrangement of this kind is used for severable, electrically conductive connection to other electrical consumers in an already existing industrial, electrical supply system.
It is known practice to make electrical contact between electrical conductors by means of the insulation-cutting terminating technique. From DE 196 05 083 A1, a cable-connecting arrangement is known, in which an electrical connection from a subscriber""s lead to a printed-circuit board takes place in a modular casing, this being achieved with the aid of an assembly consisting of a perforated disc, a casing and insulation-cutting terminating contacts and integrated into a modular casing.
A disadvantageous consequence in that instance is that, as a rule,.a number of electrical conductors are forced into the insulation-cutting terminals at the same time, it being necessary to overcome major forces for severing the insulation, which forces have to be applied by the user and transmitted to the insulation-cutting terminals via the material.
Another known electrical type of connection by means of the so-called xe2x80x9cpiercing techniquexe2x80x9d, in which metal points bore through the sheath into the electrically conductive conductor, is also ruled out, since connections of this kind either cannot be applied, or can be applied only under certain conditions, in the industrial environment.
The underlying object of the invention is therefore to construct a connecting technique of the initially mentioned type which is cost-effective and can be manipulated quickly, for industrial wiring technology, to the effect that it is possible to make electrical contact with a plurality of electrical conductors in a simple and force-saving working operation by means of insulation-cutting terminals, there being provided, at the same time, the possibility of connection to already existing multiwire leads without interrupting the latter.
This object is achieved through the fact that there are provided, in a first part of the casing, contact elements which are disposed in the form of a circle and at intervals and which have insulation-cutting terminals, the apertures of the said insulation-cutting terminals pointing towards the centre of the aperture; that a rotatable, cylindrical insert has a peg on which an eccentric is constructed; that the individual conductors are disposed in the form of a circle round the said insert in the axial direction and are pushed, together, into the aperture in the connecting arrangement; and that, when the peg is rotated, the eccentric exerts a radially acting force on the individual conductors, the latter being forced one after another into the apertures in the insulation-cutting terminals.
Whereas, in domestic wiring, work is predominantly carried out with flat-strip cables which are laid under plaster, in industrial wiring technology, use is preferably made of round cables with a number of individual wires, which are predominantly laid in cable ducts or cable shafts. Connection to the said individual wires is, as a rule, possible only at branching points which are provided for that purpose.
The advantages achieved by means of the invention consist, in particular, in the fact that it is even possible to carry out, independently of any branching point which has already been provided, electrical connections to an existing round cable which has already been laid and which consists of a number of individual electrical conductors, since the casing, according to the invention, of the connecting arrangement is produced from two parts which can be separated in such a way that an electrical lead which has not been severed can be encompassed and can be connected, in the interior of the casing, to a circuit-extending, branching electrical lead.
Also of advantage is the fact that an electrical connection is produced in a problem-free and force-saving manner through the use of an eccentric inside the connecting arrangement, the separated electrical conductors each being forced, one after another, into the cutting edges of insulation-cutting terminating contacts, so that, when severing the insulation, only the force for one electrical conductor at a time is required.
In one embodiment, the casing parts are preferably connected with the aid of a so-called xe2x80x9cT-groove guidexe2x80x9d, however other linear guides may also be employed.
In addition, provision is made for implementing the mechanical holding-together of the two casing parts in an advantageous manner, only by means of one further component, a semicircular curved element, which is placed inside the casing in such a way that, although the two casing parts are fixedly connected to one another mechanically, they can nevertheless be detached again.
At the same time, the said curved element advantageously serves to hold the contact elements, which have insulation-cutting terminals on one side and, on the other side, connecting ends onto which the electrical conductors leading in or away can be slipped, again by means of slip-on contacts. An advantageous disposition of the electrical conductors in the interior of the casing lies in their peripheral distribution over a semicircle in corresponding clearances in an insert which is cylindrical as a whole and which can be inserted in a central aperture in the casing.
The insert represented in the form of embodiment advantageously has an eccentric, onto either side of which a peg is moulded, there being pushed onto each peg rotatable circular ring elements in which the separated electrical conductors are placed in moulded-in clearances. When the insert is pushed into the central aperture, the electrical conductors in the clearances of the circular ring elements have corresponding clearances in a first part of the casing lying opposite them, so that the said electrical conductors pass into the said clearances as soon as the insert has been inserted, and directly adjoin the insulation-cutting terminals. If the eccentric is twisted by rotation of the peg by means of a simple tool, for example a screwdriver, the electrical conductors are progressively forced in an advantageous manner, individually and without the exertion of a great deal of force, into the insulation-cutting terminals which are disposed at intervals and side by side in the form of a ring.
In another advantageous form of embodiment, the components required are further reduced, so that an additional reduction in costs and assembly time can be achieved. In this instance, the abovementioned two casing parts have been combined to form a one-piece casing in the form of an axially slit hollow cylinder, which is covered by a circular element serving as a closure. The rotatable insert has been advantageously designed in one piece, so that the circular ring elements, as already described above, have been eliminated.